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Branch leaders of United Steelworkers (USW) Local 7-669 in Metropolis, Illinois, took their 11-month lockout at a US uranium processing plant of Honeywell to Europe and won the support from major trade union federations. They also won support from Honeywell&rsquo;s European Works Council (EWC) Chairman, who put Honeywell&rsquo;s risky American lockout in front of the American company&rsquo;s 30,000 European staff. 
 
The European Mine, Chemical, Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF), European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation (EMF), and European Federation of Public Service Unions (EPSU) all endorsed the struggle and called on global technology giant Honeywell to end the lockout. The plant employs 228 steelworkers, who convert yellow-cake uranium into uranium hexafluoride (UF6) for enrichment use in nuclear reactors. 
 
See a previous <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4120-Talks-Again-Fail-in-Honeywell-s-US-Lockout-of-Steelworkers">ICEM news article</a> on this critical US labour dispute.&nbsp; 
 
USW Local 7-669 leaders John Paul Smith and Steven Lech, together with USW District Director Dan Flippo, were hosted by UK&rsquo;s Unite the Union in Europe and met with national works council members in Germany and the European trade union federations in Belgium, as well as with members of Honeywell's EWC in Brussels. While in Germany, the USW delegation also met with leaders of ICEM affiliate IGBCE in Hannover.
The European trade union federations demand an end to the lockout, &ldquo;with all workers welcomed back to their plant without reprisals, and with full agreement of the union the United Steelworkers.&rdquo; 
 
The EWC member called out Honeywell&rsquo;s careless contingency plan to operate the facility during the lockout, as did a Unite officer from the UK, Ian Tonks. &ldquo;We believe the safety of the plant has been compromised on several occasions by the present temporary workforce,&rdquo; Tonks and EWC Chairman Michael Petersen said jointly. 
 
The US Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) gave Honeywell approval to re-start the conversion plant on 3 September 2010. Two days later, a hydrogen blast happened when accumulated hydrogen reacted with another gas during a venting process. The plant in southern Illinois also has seen uranium hexafluoride and hydrofluoric acid releases since replacement workers took up the jobs of skilled steelworkers in July 2010. The lockout started on 28 June. 
 
In Metropolis, the USW and Honeywell continue bargaining and talk more frequently than the once monthly set of negotiations in the first half of the lockout. But progress has been slow and Honeywell has been elusive and reprehensible at the bargaining table over the main issues in this long dispute &ndash; seniority, work rules, contracting out, a two-tier pension scheme, and health care costs. 
 
Following the last round of bargaining on 4 May, a Steelworkers spokesman told of the frustration: &ldquo;Every time we address the company&rsquo;s concerns, they say it&rsquo;s not good enough and demand more. (They) change their position with respect to their own proposals, and we cannot bargain with a moving target.&rdquo;

EMCEF, EMF, EPSU Condemn Honeywell Lockout in US

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ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro advanced more strikes in Finland&rsquo;s pulp and paper industry to respond to strike-breaking and illegal coercion to a lawful overtime ban by industry management. The escalation by Pro comes after government mediation again failed on Tuesday, 10 May, to resolve the two-month-old bitter dispute. 
 
Seventy-five percent of 4,000 white-collar, technical, and clerical workers in Finland&rsquo;s paper sector are now on strike. Strikes have been extended at UPM, the Mets&auml;liitto companies (Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, Mets&auml; Tissue), and Stora Enso and its contracting company Efora. A strike by Sappi workers at the Kirkniemi mill in southern Finland started a day early this week because of brazen management moves to break it. 
 
The dispute is grounded in principle that reduced workforces must not take on increased workloads without fair compensation. Because of redundancies and speed-ups across Finnish pulp and paper, Pro members have been asked to do more without pay and without recognition of higher job competencies. The dispute sees the employers&rsquo; grouping, the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF), refusing to agree on a national across-the-board fair wage increase. 
 
But that&rsquo;s hardly the worst of their conduct. Employers have used threats, bullying tactics, and abuse to break the strike. (See <a href="/en/19-Pulp-Paper/4394-Paper-Dispute-in-Finland-Worsens-Strike-Expands">earlier ICEM report</a> here.)&nbsp;At Sappi Kirkniemi prior to this week&rsquo;s walkout, Pro members were pressured to train summer job workers, presumably to train a scab workforce. Ammattiliitto Pro believes UPM will bring workers from Central Europe to Finland to do financial and purchase chain administration. Mets&auml;liitto also is looking at its outsourcing options. 
 
The Pro strike in Finland needs support and attention. The blatant and illegal tactics managers are using to break the strike are unfit for Finland, and unfit in any social economy.

Finnish Paper: Walkouts Intensify Because of Strike-Breaking

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In this issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS newsletter, we report on how the HIV/AIDS project in India includes women, on ART adherence in Ethiopia, and reflect on the UN&rsquo;s efforts to match commitment and declarations with concrete results. 
 
Indian Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation Involves Women 
 
In the framework of the HIV/AIDS project in India, which is sponsored by the German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim, the Indian National Mineworkers&rsquo; Federation (INMF) organised a training programme for women peer educators and counsellors in Kolkata. Twenty-one participants from five different coal companies, most of them para-medical staff from company clinics, attended the two-day course. 
 
Participants discussed the basics of HIV and AIDS, voluntary counselling and testing services, perspectives of people living with HIV and AIDS and behaviour change. The ILO Delhi office sent a resource person to talk about the ILO Code of Practice on HIV/AIDS and the world of work and the new Recommendation No. 200 concerning HIV and AIDS and the World of Work. Participants also elaborated an action plan for activities in their workplaces and communities. 
 
On International Women&rsquo;s Day, 8 March, two one-day programmes on HIV/AIDS and the workplace were organised in Dhanbad and Asansole. A total of 63 women attended the programmes which were organised by two master trainers who had received training in earlier stages of the project. 
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US Confirms Pledge to Global Fund, Other Donors Backtrack 
 
The US Congress agreed on 15 April that the US will give US$1.05 billion to the Global Fund during the fiscal year that ends on 30 September 2011. This is the same amount that the US committed for the previous year. 
 
After Republicans took control of the House, they moved to cut this to US$0.6 billion. Eventually, after much backroom negotiation, agreement was reached on the US$1.05 billion figure. Congress passed the legislation, and President Barack Obama signed it. 
<img alt="" src="" width="250" height="53" />
However, one standard aspect of such legislation is that the US will give no more than 33% of the total given by all countries to the Global Fund. Thus, if all other donors do not give twice as much as the US commits, the US contribution will be reduced. 
 
It is not yet known whether other donors will give twice as much as the US has promised. One problem is that a new trend has emerged whereby a few donors do not live up to their commitments. The most notable example of this is Italy, which has not paid any part of its 2009 and 2010 pledges of US$ 183 million per year. In addition, Spain has only paid US$134 million of the US$250 million it pledged for 2010, and Ireland has only paid US$11 million of the $48 million it pledged for 2010. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 144 of 20 April. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>; to receive GFO send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
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Ethiopia to Boost ART Adherence 
 
Patients taking their antiretroviral (ARVs) drugs irregularly risk developing drug-resistant strains of the virus. A three-month campaign by Addis Ababa's health bureau hopes to boost adherence to ARVs in the Ethiopian capital by improving communication between patients and health service providers. 
 
A 2009 study by the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Office (HAPCO) found that on average, 72.3% of patients on ARVs were still on first-line medication one year after starting treatment. The remaining people are lost. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="78" />
Insufficient food, high transport costs to drug collection points, and stigma-related issues such as fear of disclosure are some of the main reasons why HIV-positive Ethiopians fail to stick to ARVs. Such failure can hasten progress from HIV to AIDS; patients taking their drugs irregularly also run the risk of developing drug-resistant strains of the virus, requiring significantly more costly second- and third-line ARVs. 
 
Addis Ababa's health bureau is partnering with the national AIDS Resource Centre (ARC) on the three-month campaign, launched in March and funded by the US President's Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR). Through a mass-media campaign and the use of toll-free telephone HIV/AIDS information services, it seeks to promote &quot;astewai&quot; (responsible patients), and &quot;tagash&quot; (tolerant service providers) as part of its efforts to improve adherence. 
 
Some 26 state-run health centre, five state-run hospitals and 13 private facilities that provide ART in Addis Ababa will participate in the campaign, with a plan to roll it out to the rest of the country should it prove successful. 
 
(Source: IRIN Plus News, Addis Ababa, 13 April) 
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Global Fund Selects Co-Chairs for Expert Panel on Corruption 
 
The Global Fund has selected two prominent people to co-chair the panel of experts that will be conducting an independent review of the Fund&rsquo;s financial safeguards. They are former President of Botswana, Festus Mogae, and former US Health and Human Services Secretary, Michael O. Leavitt. 
 
The panel is part of a broader set of measures that the Global Fund is implementing to strengthen the Fund&rsquo;s financial and risk management systems. Some of these measures, including the panel, were in response to the recent media coverage of corruption in the administration of Global Fund grants in a few sub-Saharan African countries, and to the reaction of some donors to the corruption revelations. 
<img alt="" src="" width="128" height="169" />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <img alt="" src="" width="136" height="169" />
Festus Mogae,&nbsp;Michael O. Leavitt
The co-chairs will select a small group of eminent persons and experts to join the panel. The Global Fund says that the panel will assess the Fund&rsquo;s current practices in financial oversight, and will make recommendations to help strengthen the Global Fund&rsquo;s fiscal controls and anti-corruption measures. 
 
(Source: Global Fund Observer, Issue 142 of 17 March. GFO is a free service of Aidspan <a href="http://www.aidspan.org">www.aidspan.org</a>; to receive GFO send an email to <a href="mailto:receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org">receive-gfo-newsletter@aidspan.org</a>) 
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Burundi: &lsquo;Die-in&rsquo; Protest over Lack of HIV Care 
 
NGOs fear the erratic drug supply could lead to the deaths of people living with HIV. Hundreds of Burundians living with HIV/AIDS recently staged a demonstration in the capital, Bujumbura, to protest against a lack of treatment. 
 
Men, women, and children lay on the ground for 10 minutes to &quot;show the government that if nothing is done rapidly - this week, this month &ndash; we will all die,&quot; said Jeanne Gapiya, a leading Burundian HIV activist. 
<img alt="" src="" width="170" height="78" />
The protest was staged on 29 March by REMUA, Reseau de Reinforcement Mutuel des Acteurs de la Premi&egrave;re Ligne, a network of six NGOs providing HIV treatment to more than 9,000 people &ndash; about one-third of all people receiving antiretrovirals in Burundi. 
 
The protest was staged on 29 March by REMUA, Reseau de Reinforcement Mutuel des Acteurs de la Premi&egrave;re Ligne, a network of six NGOs providing HIV treatment to more than 9,000 people &ndash; about one-third of all people receiving antiretrovirals in Burundi. According to Gapiya, despite funding from the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in 2010, organizations caring for HIV-positive people had not signed agreements with the National Council for HIV/AIDS Control (CNLS) to access the cash. 
 
The Global Fund approved about US$35 million to fight HIV in Burundi under its eighth round of grants. An estimated 150,000 Burundians are living with HIV; the pandemic has left more than 20,000 orphans in the central African country. 
 
(Source: IRIN Plus News, Bujumbura, 4 April) 
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News from Global Unions 
 
The <a href="http://www.itfglobal.org">International Transport Workers&rsquo; Federation</a> (ITF) in its latest HIV/AIDS updates No. 104 and 105 in April, reports on HIV training courses for Burmese migrant workers, mainly fishermen, in Thailand and on a Southern Africa workshop on HIV/AIDS and TB in the transport sector, organised in cooperation with the ILO and UNAIDS. 
 
Dr Syed Asif Altaf, the ITF Global HIV/AIDS Coordinator has published, together with Robert Lovelace, Senior Fellow for the Trade Union Sustainable Development Unit, an article in the upcoming issue of the UN Chronicle on Labour, HIV and the Workplace &ndash; <a href="http://www.un.org/wcm/content/site/chronicle/">Working to Get the Job Done</a>.&nbsp; 
 
The EFAIDS (Education for All and HIV and AIDS Education) project of the Education International (EI) is ending after five successful years. Life saving skills training has been implemented by 80 member organisations in 48 countries in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean. An independent evaluation of the five-year programme is being conducted and the findings will be shared at the EFAIDS closing conference in mid-May. 
 
The Building and Wood Workers&rsquo; International (BWI) reports that its affiliate in Zambia reached out to hundreds of workers through HIV/AIDS workplace education. During the educational activities, workers were trained in the usage of condoms and care and support while at the same time linking the training to health and safety. 
 
The latest issue of the SWHAP (The Swedish Workplace HIV and AIDS Programme) Newsletter can be accessed at <a href="http://www.swhap.org">www.swhap.org</a>. The website also gives useful links to a Peer Educators&rsquo; Monitoring Booklet and How to Start a Workplace Programme. SWHAP is a joint programme of the International Council of Swedish Industry (NIR) and the Swedish Industrial and Metalworkers&rsquo; Union (IF Metall). It is sponsored by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (SIDA). 
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Five Years Ago: From the May 2006 Issue (No. 8) 
 
The first issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin was published in October 2005. In current issues, we refer to an article from the same month five years ago and reflect on developments. 
 
In the May 2006 issue of the ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin, we reported on the comprehensive review the UN General Assembly undertook on the targets agreed by member states at the 2001 UN General Assembly Special Session (UNGASS). UNGASS adopted the Declaration of Commitment on HIV/AIDS. This Declaration provides a comprehensive framework to halt and reverse the HIV/AIDS epidemic by 2010 and includes specific and measurable milestones for 2003, 2005, and 2010. Few of the targets have been met. 
 
Interestingly enough, the Declaration says in chapter 49: &ldquo;By 2005, strengthen the response to HIV/AIDS in the world of work by establishing and implementing prevention and care programmes in public, private and informal work sectors, and take measures to provide a supportive workplace environment for people living with HIV/AIDS.&rdquo; 
 
The General Assembly in 2006 adopted a Political Declaration on HIV/AIDS, without setting new targets but reaffirming the targets of the 2001 Declaration of Commitment. The Millennium Development Goals still stand. They say in Article 6.A: &ldquo;Have halted by 2015 and begun to reverse the spread of HIV/AIDS&rdquo; and 6.B: &ldquo;Achieve, by 2010, universal access to treatment for HIV/AIDS for all those who need it.&rdquo; As stated in various UN and UNAIDS documents, targets for &ldquo;universal access&rdquo; do not necessarily require 100% coverage. 
 
In June 2011, the General Assembly will undertake a comprehensive review of the progress achieved in realising the Declaration of Commitment and the Political Declaration in High Level Meeting (UNGA-HLM, see e-bulletin 67, April 2011).
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This ICEM HIV-AIDS Newsletter &ndash; How to Subscribe 
 
To subscribe to the e-bulletin, send an email to <a href="mailto:press@icem.org">press@icem.org</a>. Please put &ldquo;subscribe ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin&rdquo; in the subject line.

ICEM HIV/AIDS e-bulletin - No. 68, May 2011

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Ammattiliitto Pro, ICEM&rsquo;s salaried workers&rsquo; trade union affiliate in Finland, is asking that white-collar workers at several paper companies not take on extra work in the coming weeks. The union seeks such global unity as it begins its third wave of lawful strikes next week, and continues ones tomorrow against the intransigent employers of the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF). 
 
The request also comes after government conciliator Esa Lonka today was unable to shape a compromise proposal because of FFIF intransigence in official mediation in Finland. It was the third consecutive week that employers failed to resolve a downward spiralling labour dispute by not recognising the unfair job demands on 4,000 clerical, technical, and front-line supervisory personnel. 
 
Because of redundancies and speed-ups over the past several years in the Finnish pulp and paper sector, Pro members are asked to work more without adequate compensation, or without recognition of higher job competencies. 
 
In addition to an overtime ban across all pulp and paper companies, strikes that began on 26 April by 1,500 Pro members are continuing this week at Stora Enso, Mets&auml;liitto, Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, and Mets&auml; Tissue and a renewed strike will begin tomorrow by 1,000 salaried workers at UPM. 
 
That strike will begin at 06h00 on 4 May and run until 06h00 on 7 May. It is the second strike action against UPM &ndash; the first one running from 6-20 April &ndash; and production at UPM&rsquo;s six mills, as well at an administration centre in Tempere and an export facility at the port of Kotka will again be affected. 
 
Ammattiliitto Pro expects employers to try to break the strike by bringing in replacement workers, moving administrative work elsewhere, and to continue to bully Pro members in order to get them to ignore the overtime ban and strike actions. (See prior <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4394-Paper-Dispute-in-Finland-Worsens;-Strike-Expands">ICEM report</a> here.) 
 
&ldquo;Pro appeals for solidarity from workers of UPM-Kymmene, Stora Enso, Mets&auml;liitto, Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, Mets&auml; Tissue, and Sappi in other countries not to perform any extra work of the type covered by the strikes, as the companies seek to break the strike by transferring the work abroad,&rdquo; said the union. 
 
The ICEM is calling on paperworkers throughout the world to support Ammattiliitto Pro in this critical dispute in Finland, and to monitor the administrative, financial, services workload in these pulp and paper companies in order to comply with the union&rsquo;s request. Also, notes of solidarity should be sent to Pro President <a href="mailto:Antti.rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti Rinne</a>, and collective bargaining directors <a href="mailto:Jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">Jukka H&auml;m&auml;l&auml;inen</a> and <a href="mailto:Jari.uschanov@proliitto.fi">Jari Uschanov</a>.

Mediation Fails in Finnish Paper Strike; Strikes Continue

Dear Pulp &amp; Paper Comrades, 
 
The month-long struggle for a fair national collective agreement by 4,000 members of ICEM affiliate Ammattiliitto Pro continues today. In fact, in anything, following a two-week strike against UPM that ended last week, the union has ramped up lawful industrial action. 
 
A <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4394-Paper-Dispute-in-Finland-Worsens;-Strike-Expands">full ICEM report</a> from yesterday, 25 April, can be read without going into too many details here. 
 
In short, a scheduled two-week strike action that was to have started on Wednesday, 27 April, has been moved up to today. The strike actions, this time numbering 1,500 Pro members, will be against all Stora Enso operations in Finland, as well as against Mets&auml;liitto and its related and partly-owned paper companies &ndash; Mets&auml;-Botnia, M-real, and Mets&auml; Tissue. The reasons for moving strike action up are primarily Stora Enso&rsquo;s heavy-handed attempt to bust a lawful overtime ban the union has put in place, and the fact that Proliitto enters government-mediated bargaining today over the dispute with the Finnish Forest Industries Federation (FFIF). 
 
In your own short words, send a message of congratulations to Pro leaders for waging this gutsy fight on behalf of union members, and send them another note of solidarity. They are <a href="mailto:Antti.rinne@proliitto.fi">Antti Rinne</a>, <a href="mailto:Jukka.hamalainen@proliitto.fi">Jukka Hamalainen</a>, and <a href="http://Matti.koskinen@proliitto.fi">Matti Koskinen</a>. 
 
They truly have ratcheted up pressure against the industry in Finland and by doing this, it will ensure that white-collar, technical, and clerical workers in the pulp and paper sector in Finland will get their fair share.
&nbsp;
<hr />
Campaign to Save Sappi&rsquo;s Paper Mill in Biberist, Switzerland 
 
Another hot issue in European pulp and paper is Swiss union Unia&rsquo;s campaign to prevent Sappi from closing a printing and writing papers mill (one Sappi bought from M-real) in Biberist, Switzerland. 
 
A <a href="/en/78-ICEM-InBrief/4393-ICEM-Joins-Swiss-Workers’-Campaign-to-Keep-Sappi-Paper-Mill-Open">full ICEM report</a> can be accessed here. 
 
The campaign is exciting because the whole community of Biberist, located some 40 kilometres north of Bern, has rallied to Unia&rsquo;s campaign. The mill manager is bucking Sappi Europe&rsquo;s decision to close what now has become a productive and profitable mill. And last week, the Sappi EWC pleaded with management to keep the mill open. Full details can be found in the ICEM story. 
 
Do your part: send a short message to Unia&rsquo;s representatives that you support the union&rsquo;s initiatives. They are <a href="mailto:Manuel.wyss@unia.ch">Manuel Wyss</a>, <a href="mailto:Markus.baumann@unia.ch">Markus Baumann</a>, and <a href="mailto:David.binder@sappi.com">David Binder</a>.
&nbsp;

Finnish Paper Strike Heats Up; Further Help Needed

<img alt="" src="" width="100" height="39" />
The ICEM affiliate, National Union of Mine, Metal, and Steel Workers (SNTMMSSRM) of Mexico, or Los Mineros, and the union&rsquo;s General Secretary, Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia, were announced last week as the 2011 recipients of the Meany-Kirkland Human Rights Award by the US national labour centre, AFL-CIO. 
 
The award, created in 1980, is named for the first two presidents of the AFL-CIO, George Meany and Lane Kirkland, and is awarded annually to a person and organisation exemplifying outstanding courage in the struggle for human rights through trade unionism.
<img alt="" src="" width="160" height="107" />
&nbsp;Napole&oacute;n G&oacute;mez Urrutia 
 

In an AFL-CIO resolution, G&oacute;mez is cited for his &ldquo;courageous commitment to defend the aspirations of Mexican workers to higher living standards, democratic labor unions, rule of law and a better future for their country.&rdquo; G&oacute;mez lives in exile in Canada, after being forced to leave Mexico, where he continues to negotiate collective agreements for workers in Mexico. 
 
Los Mineros, despite massive repression in Mexico, is bargaining contracts and organising new workplaces with the help of trade union allies such as the United Steelworkers (USW). Some of the most egregious attacks on trade unions by the Mexican government have come against Los Mineros. 
 
The 2010 recipient of the Meany-Kirkland Award was given to Egyptian workers, the Center for Trade Union and Worker Services (CTUWS), and the independent Real Estate Tax Authority of Egypt. In 2009, the award was presented to Yessika Hoyos of Colombia and her organisation, Sons and Daughters Against Impunity and for the Memory of the Fallen. Hoyos is the daughter of Jorge Dario Hoyos Franco, a Colombian trade union leader who served inside the Miners&rsquo; International Federation, a predecessor Global Union Federation of the ICEM.

Los Mineros 2011 Recipient of Meany-Kirkland Award in US

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The ICEM-affiliated Pakistan Central Mines Labour Federation (PCMLF) condemned the recent actions of managers at a joint venture copper-gold project in Baluchistan province owned by Barrick Gold of Canada and Antofagasta Ltd. of the UK. Managers at the Reko Diq project of Tethyan Copper Co. (TCC) suddenly turned its back on a budding social dialogue forum with the TCC Employees&rsquo; Union and suspended 12 union activists. 
 
This despite a pledge by Tethyan Copper managers to engage the All Pakistan Labour Federation (APLF) in signing a charter of demand to begin serious discussions over workplace matters at the set of 19 gold and copper deposits in the Chagai District of the southwestern Pakistani province. The charter ended a hunger strike in front of the company&rsquo;s offices in Nok Kundi.
<img src="" width="294" height="170" alt="" />
&nbsp;Sultan Mohammad Khan (center) at News Briefing 

But shortly after, Tethyan Copper reneged on reinstating five of the 12 workers, sacking them, and then of 14 April fired four TCC Employees&rsquo; Union leaders, including President Ghulam Hayder Baloch and Chairman Mazir Ahmad Baloch. At a press conference at the Quetta press club on 17 April, PCMLF General Secretary and APLF leader Sultan Mohammad Khan denounced the company&rsquo;s backpeddling and urged journalists and others to apply pressure for reinstatement. 
 
&ldquo;Management of Tethyan Copper ignored an environment of brotherhood and refused to fulfil its commitment,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;The workers of Reko Diq are of the view that TCC is not offering them anything other than a job, and that job hangs by a loose thread. They feel helpless and powerless now in front of this company because if they demand their legal rights, they feel they will be terminated.&rdquo;
<img src="" width="230" height="142" alt="" />
Australian-based TCC was bought by Antofagasta in 2006 and immediately Barrick&rsquo;s joined as a joint venture partner on the Reko Diq project to help alleviate Antofagasta&rsquo;s debt burden. The copper-gold porphyry mineral deposits are said to be worth US$100 billion, with copper reserves of 12.3 million tonnes and gold reserves of 20.8 million ounces. In 2010, the enterprise drew 1.98 million ounces of gold from Reko Diq.

Mine Workers’ Federation Condemns Barrick Gold, Antofagasta in Pakistan

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
The ICEM-affiliated Belarusian Independent Trade Union (BNP) conducted a heated Congress in Soligorsk on 16 April, resulting in a change of union leadership. After a day-long debate that resulted in a narrow &ndash; 32-29 &ndash; no-confidence vote for the current leadership, the body elected Nikolai Zimin as chairman. 
 
Zimin, a mineworker, is a machine operator employed at state-owned JSC Belaruskaliy and works in the company&rsquo;s potash and potassium chloride operations near Soligorsk. He is a ten-year trade union activist and had served as secretary-treasurer, and then deputy chairman of BNP. He defeated incumbent Vasiliy Korobov and challenger Sergei Antusevitch in a three-way race, with Zimin getting nearly three times the vote total as runner-up Antusevitch.
<img src="" width="140" height="142" alt="" />
In the ballot for deputy chairman, incumbent Nikolai Novik withdrew his nomination after the no-confidence vote, and Antusevitch and Yuriy Shvets, an oilworker at Gazprom&rsquo;s Mozyr refinery, were elected co-deputy chairmen. Aleksandr Korolev was elected secretary-treasurer. 
 
BNP is affiliated to the Belarus Congress of Democratic Trade Unions, and both the fledgling national labour centre and BNP face continual suppression and harassment at the hands of Belarus dictator Alexander Lukashenko and the Belarus Federation of Trade Unions (FPB). 
 
BNP is engaged in serious struggles to gain rightful trade union recognition from Belarusian regional authorities, including at Delta Style, a garment maker (see <a href="-Local-Government-Blocks-Women-Garment-Workers-in-Organising">ICEM report</a>) and at OJSC Naftan, a polymer and chemicals operation.

BNP of Belarus Elects New Union Leadership

<img src="" width="100" height="39" alt="" />
A 24-hour warning strike that started a week ago by Solidarnosc representing the majority of 22,000 workers at Poland&rsquo;s Jastrzębska Spolka Weglowa (JSW) in Silesian coal mines has produced negotiations with the state-run company. Those talks started last Thursday and will continue tomorrow, 26 April, in Katowice, along with the provincial Committee on Social Dialogue. 
 
Miners took industrial action in resistance to the government&rsquo;s plan to list JSW, Europe&rsquo;s largest coking coal producer, on the stock exchange. They are also seeking a 10% wage increase from a state company that has seen hefty earnings, posting net profits of &euro;300 million, or US$422 million in 2010. The government, meanwhile, is anxious to proceed with the listing on 30 June because of current high raw materials costs for steel production. 
 
The government is making the case that listing on the Warsaw Stock Exchange will improve JSW&rsquo;s position in the marketplace because of greater access to funding for mine development and clean coal technology. Government officials were critical of the industrial action, saying that such social action &ndash; despite being legal &ndash; devalues the company. 
 
The state is offering free-of-charge shares to JSW staff as it intends to float 30% of JSW, while retaining 51%. However, the door has been left open to future sales of shares.
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The warning strike and blockade of coal exiting five JSW mines on 8 April came ten days after miners voted by 95% in a referendum for industrial action. A total of 78.5% of the 22,000 miners participated in the vote. 
 
If JSW is privatised, the mineworkers&rsquo; unions seek a 10-year guarantee of employment. Because of the current negotiations, unions cancelled another strike that was to occur tomorrow. The one-day warning strike last week is said to have cost the company PLN 30 million, or &euro;7.6 million (US$11 million). 
 
JSW is the first of the major coal producers in Poland that the government seeks to privatise. In the middle of 2012, it intends to sell Katowicki Holding Weglowy (KHW), a thermal coal producer employing 19,200 workers. Unions there have already agreed to a redundancy scheme that will see about 1,000 miners take early retirement by the end of next year. The government intends to combine KHW with the state-run export company Weglokoks in the 2012 public listing.

Warning Strike Ends, Negotiations Start in Southern Poland Coal Fields

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In a first for the European chemical sector, the European Mine, Chemical, and Energy Workers&rsquo; Federation (EMCEF) and the European Chemical Employers&rsquo; Group (ECEG) signed a framework agreement outlining job profiles for process operators and front-line supervisors.
Signed during a 15 April conference between the social partners that was held at the offices of CSC B&acirc;timent-Energie in Brussels, the agreement is termed &ldquo;Competence Profiles for Process Operators and First Line Supervisors in the Chemical Industry.&rdquo;
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&nbsp;ECEG&rsquo;s Simon Marsh, EMCEF&rsquo;s&nbsp;Reinhard Reibsch, ECAG&rsquo;s Jean Pelin
The pact defines a set of four minimum core competencies and training for both occupations and is described by EMCEF as &ldquo;a strong example of how the trade unions and employers in the chemical sector have worked to help businesses and workforces through the global economic crisis and build a platform for sustainable growth.&rdquo; 

The agreement is set up to deliver equal quality and value of education and training across EU nations, and was negotiated to support the &ldquo;Europe 2020&rdquo; goals of the EU. It also references mobility across Europe in the chemical sector and establishes core competence benchmarks for national qualifications, national vocational education and training for both workers and managers in their human resource development. It also contains a principle encouraging dialogue between workers and companies on job design and development. 
The framework compact says it is not an alternative to national provisions already underway in place, nor shall it impact collective bargaining agreements or remuneration levels in the European chemicals sector. Yearly reports on actions taken under the agreement will be presented to the sector&rsquo;s social dialogue forum, and full evaluation will take place after three years. 
The signing came during a day-long social partners&rsquo; conference entitled &ldquo;Framework Agreement in the Field of Education, Training, and Lifelong Learning.&rdquo; A panel on the topic of the agreement included Alfons de Potter of CSC B&acirc;timent-Energie, Belgium, and Jan Kilmes of Odborovy svaz ECHO of the Czech Republic.
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Coincidentally, on the same day &ndash; 15 April &ndash; the European Metalworkers&rsquo; Federation and the Council of European Employers of the Metal, Engineering and Technology-based Industries (CEEMET) issued a joint statement, both applauding the European Commission on recognising the importance of an industrial base and urging the body take further decisive action to strengthen that base in order to meet &ldquo;Europe 2020.&rdquo; 

In part, the statement calls on the Commission to exhibit leadership and responsibility, urging strong coordination between the different Directorate Generals. &ldquo;CEEMET and the EMF underline that there are strong links between industrial and social policy. Only sustainable competitive industries can create high quality jobs and an effective industrial policy fosters the social dimension of Europe.&rdquo; 

In addressing restructurings, the statement credits sector and company level decisions in finding temporary solutions to recent economic challenges. But it also states that in a quickly changing economic landscape, &ldquo;there will still remain a need for rules on employment which provide sufficient adaptability and flexibility for companies to meet that chance.&rdquo;

EMCEF, Chemical Employers Sign Process Operators, Front-line Supervisors Pact

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